Asociación Herpetológica Española

Emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) pose a major threat to global amphibian populations, contributing to widespread mortality and species extinctions. Among EIDs, those caused by the fungal pathogens Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) and B. salamandrivorans (Bsal), and viruses in the genus Ranavirus (Rv), represent the most significant threats to amphibian biodiversity. Here, we tested for occurrence of Rv in 3 different locations in southeastern Sweden. Using a quantitative PCR assay, complemented by a secondary PCR-based validation method targeting the viral major capsid protein gene and additional 5 partial sequences, we detected Rv in 2 of 3 locations and in 5 out of 43 individuals tested. This is the first record of Rv occurrence reported at such high latitudes in northern Europe and the first from the Scandinavian peninsula, contributing important insights into infection prevalence in northern amphibian populations. These findings establish a basis for the conservation of vulnerable populations.

Fisheries that target tunas and tuna-like species are managed by tuna regional fisheries management organizations (t-RFMO) and are known to interact with various bycatch species, including sea turtles, with potentially negative effects. Actions and management measures implemented by t-RFMO to monitor sea turtle fisheries interactions, reduce their bycatch in fisheries, and carry out best practices for the handling and safe release of sea turtles, with the ultimate aim of improving the conservation of sea turtles are revised. Specifically, the actions and regulations for each of the following areas are revised: (i) data collection requirements, (ii) bycatch estimates and assessments, (iii) management measures, and (iv) any other conservation and management actions for sea turtle conservation. The particular case of the Mediterranean Sea also was analyzed, given that it has the highest rate of sea turtle bycatch in the world. Tuna-RFMO have a great potential for reducing fisheries bycatch impacts in marine turtle populations globally, but their actions are limited by their geographic scopes and mandates and the variety of habitats used by sea turtles during their life history. Tuna-RFMO also have a potentially significant role in leading the reduction of incidental sea turtle mortality in fisheries under their purview, both regionally and globally, by bringing together different stakeholders and initiatives.

El artículo trata la recepción filosófica de la ironía romántica centrándose para ello en tres momentos fundamentales: la crítica de la ironía como negatividad infinita en Hegel y Kierkegaard, su vínculo con la inhibición política en Carl Schmitt y Georg Lukács y, finalmente, su reapropiación por el pensamiento deconstructivista. El estudio propone que sólo el cuestionamiento de ciertas premisas de la modernidad filosófica ha permitido recuperar la dimensión estética del primer romanticismo.

Chytridiomycosis is affecting hundreds of amphibian species worldwide, but while in tropical areas, adult individuals have been the focus of most investigations, the exact role played by infection intensity of breeding adults is not well understood in temperate areas. We conducted mark–recapture–capture surveys during spiny common toad breeding seasons from 2006 to 2018 at the site of the first recorded outbreak of chytridiomycosis in Europe, the Peñalara Massif (Sierra de Guadarrama National Park, central Spain), and collected infection samples and several variables related to the reproductive effort of male individuals. We used general linear mixed models to evaluate the contribution of study variables on the infection loads of adult male toads exhibited at their capturing date. We also analysed the differences on several male characteristics between the pond with the largest breeding population against the rest of the ponds. We found that the duration of time spent in the waterbody and the condition of the host predicted infection loads. Animals of good physical condition, that spent longer in water, have higher infection levels than individuals with the opposite set of traits. The pond supporting the largest breeding population housed smaller male toads and in poorer condition. Our results are consistent with a shift in reproductive strategy in response to infection and potentially a strategy of tolerance, rather than resistance to infection. These findings have applications for disease mitigation and theoretical implications related to the trade-offs made and the evolution of traits in response to the disease.

Las relaciones sentimentales en los adolescentes de origen extranjero suponen un proceso de negociación entre valores, normas y prescripciones de dos sociedades, pudiendo generar a conflictos culturales. Este estudio analiza las narrativas acerca de las relaciones de pareja y las tensiones culturales y religiosas que se generan en 25 estudiantes de origen marroquí, entre 15-19 años. Los resultados revelan una comprensión de las relacionales heterogénea, pero mayoritariamente liberal, donde prima la virtualidad y la inestabilidad, en las que persisten valores familiares marroquíes. Se describe una diversidad de discursos respecto al amor y la pareja, aunque se mantiene el matrimonio, la monogamia y la fidelidad. Los jóvenes musulmanes, mayoritariamente varones, mantienen una visión positiva hacia los celos ligada a una cultura del honor. Manifiestan una construcción del género en la pareja en conflicto entre formas liberales y tradicionales en las mujeres marroquíes, mientras que los varones expresan formas de masculinidad tradicional. Asimismo, declaran conflictos culturales y religiosos sobre (1) la sexualidad, especialmente en lo relativo a la virginidad; y (2) en la concepción de los roles de género en la pareja y la violencia machista dentro de la familia. En estos aspectos se observa un triple choque cultural: intrafamiliar, con la comunidad de origen y con la comunidad española. Estos aspectos deben considerarse para la adaptación transcultural de los programas de prevención de la violencia en la pareja.

The voluntarist disruptive hopes in the full application of artificial intelligence (AI) in the field of the Judiciary does not enervate an inescapable –and inevitable– reality such as the reformulated and growing link between AI and the Administration of Justice. And more specifically, between the algorithm and thejudicial decision. However, throughout the text, it will be shown that, to this day, the direct replacement of human activity in the judicial decision is purely chimerical in the short and medium term. Another thing is the activities related to the judicial prediction of the private platforms that use AI, fully developed and implemented (with some criminal reluctance as in France). Along with this prescient commercial activity, only in two areas can a timid disruption in the judicial field be rigorously affirmed: the possibilities offered by simple automation in the process and the use of automatic data processing technologies in the audiovisualfield. Disadvantages related to potentially discriminatory bias; the pure search for the technological imitation of the guidelines of human behavior; the denaturation of the heuristic principle or technical incapacity, such as the still incomplete processing of human language, are too many servitudes to consider robotjudges even more than a fiction.

Biological invasions are a key component of human-induced global change. The continuing increase in global wildlife trade has raised concerns about the parallel increase in the number of new invasive species. However, the factors that link the wildlife trade to the biological invasion process are still poorly understood. Moreover, there are analytical challenges in researching the role of global wildlife trade in biological invasions, particularly issues related to the under-reporting of introduced and established populations in areas with reduced sampling effort. In this work, we use high-quality data on the international trade in Nearctic turtles (1999-2009) coupled with a statistical modelling framework, which explicitly accounts for detection, to investigate the factors that influence the introduction (release, or escape into the wild) of globally traded Nearctic turtles and the establishment success (self-sustaining exotic populations) of slider turtles (Trachemys scripta), the most frequently traded turtle species. We found that the introduction of a species was influenced by the total number of turtles exported to a jurisdiction and the age at maturity of the species, while the establishment success of slider turtles was best associated with the propagule number (number of release events), and the number of native turtles in the jurisdiction of introduction. These results indicate both a direct and indirect association between the wildlife trade and the introduction of turtles and establishment success of slider turtles, respectively. Our results highlight the existence of gaps in the number of globally recorded introduction events and established populations of slider turtles, although the expected bias is low. We emphasize the importance of researching independently the factors that affect the different stages of the invasion pathway. Critically, we observe that the number of traded individuals might not always be an adequate proxy for propagule pressure and establishment success.